Interview with Noise Control

Interview with Noise Control at Muzu studios South William Street on 21/02/2009.

Every hard working band tries to follow a step by step process to gain the recognition they feel they deserve. These steps must include a debut single and distribution.

Dublin based rock/electronica band Noise Control have already checked of some of these boxes, having released double A-sided single Cities of Dreams/Mudbath last year in the U.K. and gaining “single of the week” status. Now they tackle what could be considered the biggest promotional step in the bands history – the music video.

They aim to release the video for new single “Addiction” into the mainstream market in the coming months. Connected sat down with guitarist Kevin Whyms and drummer Declan Herbert during the shoot.

First of all guys, how do you feel the shoot went today?

We are really excited about it. Its our first ever music video and we are ecstatic over the level of professionalism involved. We tried making a video for Addiction before but it didn’t quite work out. It was at a live show which was prematurely shut down. Lets hope the second attempt goes better! We hope to get it on to MTV in the coming months as a promo, that’s the ultimate goal.

Following a busy 2008, HotPress were quoted stating they expect more great things in 2009. What is most important for the band in the next ten months?

We really just need to keep our heads down and make sure the album is finished this year. We have put a lot of work into it. We plan to tour England and do some festivals too.

Do you have any upcoming festival slots?

We Hope to play the major Irish festivals, namely Oxegen and Electric Picnic, although nothing is set in stone. We are quite keen to play Leeds this year also and hopefully some other UK festivals too.

Would this be inclusive of your plan to tour England?

The plan is to head over in June in time for the festivals but we want to go back over in late August for some showcase gigs and support slots in order to secure some headliners in the future.

How do you find being unsigned during these harsh economical times?

If we got signed that would be huge for us. The money is obviously a big factor, more money leads to better PR. But even so, everything we have accomplished to date we have done ourselves and we are extremely proud of that. The singles, the distribution and now the video have all been completely independent.

Some of your biggest exposure has come from the world of video games. Disney picked up your double A-sided single for their Xbox video game Pure. How long did you work on it and what was the end result?

We worked on it for about a year. It was quite important for us because we looked at this as quite commercial regardless of the method of media. In the end the tracks were chosen to be used on the main title screen on rotation so that was a huge success.

Do you know anything about the game itself?

It’s about Quad bikes!

Liam Howlett also personally picked you to support The Prodigy for the Irish leg of their “Their Law” tour. What was it like touring with a high profile band? Any crazy/fun stories?

To be perfectly honest the guys are really down to earth. We are so grateful for the opportunity and they looked after us a lot. They seem to have a passion for rooting for the underdog and thankfully they saw that potential in Noise Control.

I’m going to take advantage of the fact that Mark-Kid (vocals) is still shooting to ask a question about his name. Why his name is hyphenated?

(The two have a chuckle)… I don’t think he wants a hyphenated name anymore! For a long time his nickname was The Kid so eventually we just added the Kid part to his name, but these days he’s not such a kid!

And finally, do you shop in Lidl of Marks and Spencers?

Definitely Lidl. I think we will be shopping there forever!

The new video for Noise Control’s “Addiction” will hopefully be hitting our screens in the coming months.

Dave Quinn